In The Rain Wih You
by inkywings
Summary: Zoro's looking for Luffy, who seems to be lost. But what if he's standing right in front of him? Just standing alone in the rain. Cute one-shot.


Me: This one's for my friend Digitaldreamer and her little live journal thing. She knows what I'm talking about. I beta read it myself so no work for her! Enjoy, Digi!

_6 'o' Clock In the Evening_

His short, spiky green locks were getting drenched in the downpour. Why couldn't he have followed a normal captain? One that didn't go running off at random moments? While it was raining?

The young man sighed, scratching the back of his head. "Damn it, Luffy," he murmured, eyes skimming across the dank, wet streets of the city they had stopped on for supplies. Zoro, having taken so long getting new supplies to clean his swords, never knew the affects of his captains boredom in a weaponry store. Until he snuck out on Zoro, that is.

His heavy boots clicked on the cobblestone streets as he walked towards the Meat Market. Knowing Luffy, his stomach would lead him there. But to his great surprise, al he saw was an old man sweeping up the remains of plastic on the floor, no straw-hatted boy to be seen.

"Can I help you, sir?" the old man wheezed.

Zoro raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, has a boy with a red vest and straw hat stopped by here?"

The old man's eyes narrowed. "He with you?"

Zoro made the mistake of nodding. "Yeah, why?"

"Then you owe me the price for one whole ham!" he snapped.

Zoro blinked in surprise. "What?"

"That straw-hatted boy came in here and asked me for some meat!" he exclaimed. "He took a ham and when I told him to pay, he just said "Sorry, mister, I don't have any money!' and he ran off!"

"Oh, sorry about that," Zoro grumbled, turning around to leave. But the old geezer called him back.

"Hey, aren't you gonna pay for that stupid little friend of yours?"

Zoro's eyes narrowed and his hand flew to one of his katana. Yanking it from his hip, he pointed it at the clerk who's eyes had grown to twice their size.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Zoro hissed.

The man shook his head frantically. "N-nothing, n-n-nevermind..."

Zoro nodded in satisfaction, sheathing the cursed blade back into its holder.

The door bell jingled but the sound was lost in the plops of rain as he exited the meat store.

"If Luffy was here, he can't have gone far," Zoro murmured to himself.

The rain seemed to increase when fifteen minutes later, he still hadn't found his captain.

"Damn it, Luffy, where the hell'd you go?" Zoro roared.

He had checked the pharmacy (Luffy loved the frozen meats section there), the candy store (he was starting to wonder if Luffy's teeth would fall out from the sugar intake), and the aerobics center (Luffy enjoyed it there; he thought the stretching people were funny).

But at least it proved he knew his friend well for at every place he stopped, he saw the unmistakable mark that the pirate had been there. The candy shop owner chased Zoro out of the store when he told her who he was looking for, saying that Luffy had eaten half the candy supply.

The pharmacy attempted to charge Zoro with repairs that had to be done to the heater. Apparently, Luffy had tried to heat up the frozen meats... over the heater. Moron.

The aerobics center listed complaints as to the 'sensitive' nature of their customers. Luffy had shown them all up while using his stretchy body, greatly surpassing all the people there.

If Nami found out about the charges Zoro had been forced with, the navigator would kill him.

So he'd have to defend himself... and kill her.

Ah well, that lady was going to hell anyway.

But still...

Zoro was alone. In the cold. In the rain. In the cold rain. Not that it was anything compared to his little dip at Drum Kingdom, but this was just plain annoying. Honestly, how many people in the world would people have this difficult a time finding?

Yup, Luffy was one of a kind, that was for sure.

As the rain continued to leak through his clothes, his thoughts turned colder as well. What if Luffy was kidnapped? What if they lured him into a trap with meat? Or worse. FREE meat? The first mate knew his captain better then anyone else, and he also knew that Luffy would follow anybody if they had something edible.

Or shiny. Shiny things worked too.

Zoro shook his head; this was stupid. Zoro trusted Luffy with all his being and he knew that Luffy, no matter how dense, wouldn't do something that stupid.

A bolt of lighting flashed across the sky, lighting his way for only but a split second. But that second was all he needed. Saluted against the blinding light was a lone figure.

"...Luffy?" Zoro murmured, confused. Walking towards the person, he realized that it was indeed Luffy. Soaking wet, but still Luffy.

"Hiya, Zoro!" Luffy said cheerfully; he had his arms spread open like an eagle and had been staring up at the rain with a giant grin on his face.

"Where the hell have you been, idiot!" Zoro roared.

Luffy blinked. "I've been here, silly." And he went back to staring at the rain.

Zoro looked up, failing to see what had caught Luffy's attention. "What are you staring at, anyway?"

Luffy shot a quick glare at Zoro. "C'mon, I know you can see it!"

"No, Luffy, I really don't."

"Look closer!" Luffy said carefully.

Sighing, Zoro stared at the rain. He'd do whatever, as long as they could go back on the warm ship soon. "I see rain."

Luffy nodded vigorously. "Yeah, and what does the rain look like?"

"Water?" Zoro tried.

Luffy shook his head; he appeared to be annoyed. "Look at the shapes!"

Zoro tried, but couldn't see what his captain obviously could. All he could see was rain. The wind blew it lightly, sending sheets of it falling down. But he could not figure out a pattern. It was just rain, lots of sheets of rain. Waves of rain...

...waves of rain?

"Waves of rain?" Zoro voiced his thoughts.

"EXACTLY!" Luffy cried out happily, seeming to be thrilled that Zoro had gotten it at last. "The rain looks exactly like the ocean! It's like being inside the sea! Look at the clouds, they're in the shape of fish!"

He pointed to a dark cloud that did, surprisingly, look a bit like a fish.

"Luffy, you see the ocean every day," Zoro pointed out. "What makes this so different?"

"Because this ocean," Luffy said quietly, "is the only one I can't drown in."

Zoro blinked; did Luffy just say something... insightful?

"If I go in the regular ocean, I won't be able to swim," Luffy continued. "But the rain looks a lot like the ocean and it's almost as good! And I don't have to swim, I can stay here as long as I want and not drown!" He laughed, opening his mouth wide to catch some of the rain drops.

Zoro smiled slightly. To a boy like Luffy who loved the ocean, not being able to swim in it must be pretty hard. But hey... there was always the rain.

"Yeah," Zoro nodded. "You can always stay out in the rain."

Luffy grinned. "You like the rain too, don't you, Zoro?"

Zoro grinned back. He thought the rain was a bit annoying, the cold and the wet and the dreariness. But that smile lighted up the atmosphere, making it brighter then the lightning ever could. "Yeah, Luffy. I think I do."

_Owari_

Me: Hope you enjoyed it! The rain thing was though of and requested by Digital. I hope you liked it, Digi! I tried my best! And to the reviewers, ja ne!


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